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TALKING ABOUT PROBLEM GAMBLING

Do's and Don'ts

Do:

• Get educated: Learn what you can about problem gambling, including its warning signs, negative impacts, and options for help and recovery.
• Seek support: Talk to someone you can trust like a counsellor, friend, family member, or clergy. Attend self-help groups such as Gam-Anon. Counsellors and self-help groups are particularly useful for helping people learn how to communicate effectively, reduce guilt, and raise self esteem.
• Let the gambler know if you are seeking help for yourself.
• Stay calm when discussing the gambler’s behavior and its consequences.
• Recognize the gambler’s good qualities.
• Acknowledge the gambler’s need for treatment and remember that change takes time, effort, and often several attempts to be successful.
• Consider controlling the gambler’s finances for a while if no one else can. If the gambler is a spouse or partner and is unwilling to let you do so, you may have to make arrangements to protect your personal finances as much as possible.
• If the gambler has children, speak to the children about the problem, conveying certain key messages using age appropriate language.

Don't:

• Lecture, accuse, preach, or get angry with the individual.
• Act as though you are a better person.
• Give deadlines or ultimatums unless you plan to follow through.
• Gamble with the person.
• Exclude the person from non-gambling related activities.
• Expect an immediate recovery.
• Lend money to, or bail out, the person with a gambling problem.
• Deny or make excuses for their behavior.